5 Side Characters Who Got Their Own Successful Spinoff!

Sometimes the most interesting person in a story is not the hero at all. Whether it is the awkward sister hidden in the background, the fan-favorite soldier, or even the villain everyone thought they hated, audiences have become obsessed with side characters who quietly steal every scene they are in. In recent years, spin-offs and retellings have started giving these overlooked characters stories of their own, transforming them from supporting roles into some of pop culture’s most beloved protagonists. Here are the top 5 spin-offs we recommend you watch all for their own unique reasons!

1. Mary Bennet from Pride and Prejudice: "The Other Bennet Sister"

In Pride and Prejudice, Mary Bennet barely gets a look in. Overshadowed by sisters Elizabeth’s wit, Jane’s beauty, and Lydia’s chaos, she exists mostly on the sidelines as the awkward, overly serious sister no one quite knows what to do with. That is exactly why "The Other Bennet Sister" feels so special. The novel -- now adapted into a major British television series -- takes the supposedly “irrelevant" Bennet sister and finally places her at the centre of the story.

What makes Mary’s transformation so compelling is that she is not radically reinvented. She does not suddenly become glamorous, charming, or socially accomplished to earn her happy ending. Instead, the story allows her to remain quiet, intellectual, awkward, and deeply human. Rather than changing herself to fit society’s expectations, Mary slowly learns to value herself outside of her mother’s shadow and the constant comparisons to her sisters.

Unlike many spin-off protagonists, Mary was never an obvious fan favorite. She was a background character many readers barely remembered. Yet, through a thoughtful and deeply kind reinterpretation, she has flourished into a character audiences genuinely root for. In many ways, Mary Bennet represents the most satisfying kind of spin-off lead: not the character who demanded attention, but the one who was finally given it. (Stream on BritBox)

2. Coriolanus Snow from The Hunger Games:  The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

Of course, we cannot talk about spin-off characters without mentioning the obligatory misunderstood villain. By giving antagonists their own stories, audiences are suddenly able to understand the motives behind the actions that once made them seem completely irredeemable. This is exactly what Suzanne Collins does with Panem President Coriolanus Snow in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Rather than presenting Snow as the cold and untouchable dictator audiences knew from The Hunger Games, Collins rewinds the clock to the 10th Hunger Games, showing him as an ambitious and deeply flawed young adult at the very beginning of his rise to power. The result is uncomfortable in the best way possible: viewers find themselves sympathising with a character they already know will become a monster. (Stream on Hulu and AMC+)

3. Levi Ackerman from "Attack on Titan": "Attack on Titan: No Regrets"

Even though Levi Ackerman was never supposed to become one of the main attractions of "Attack on Titan", he completely stole the show anyway. Creator Hajime Isayama originally intended Levi to be a much smaller character, even describing him as rough-looking and never expecting the overwhelming fan response he eventually received. But between Levi’s terrifying fighting skills, blunt personality, and the rare moments where his softer side slips through, it is not hard to see why audiences became obsessed with him. "Attack on Titan: No Regrets" finally gives fans the backstory they wanted, exploring Levi’s life before the Survey Corps and showing how the brutal underground city shaped him into one of anime’s most beloved side characters.

4. Ophelia from Hamlet: Ophelia

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia is usually remembered as the girl who goes mad because of Hamlet, but the 2018 film Ophelia finally gives her a personality and story outside of him. Surprisingly, Hamlet himself actually takes up very little of the film. Instead, the movie focuses much more on Ophelia’s own life, especially her connection to nature, healing, and witchcraft, which becomes a huge part of her identity and independence. Rather than being portrayed as fragile and passive, she comes across as intelligent, capable, and fully aware of the dangerous world around her. It is one of the best examples of a spin-off taking a character who was overshadowed in the original and finally letting her exist beyond the male protagonist and the chance to live on. (Stream on AMC+ and Tubi)

5. The Minions from Despicable Me: Minions

On a far less literary -- but no less culturally significant -- note, the Minions movie exists almost entirely because audiences became obsessed with the strange little yellow sidekicks from Despicable Me. Originally created as comic relief, the Minions quickly became more recognisable than some of the franchise’s actual main characters, with their chaotic energy, nonsensical language, and bizarre devotion to villainy making them instant fan favorites.

Naturally, audiences wanted more, and Minions certainly delivered. The film gives these odd, banana-shaped creatures an entire evolutionary backstory, tracing their history from prehistoric times all the way to their eventual meeting with Gru. Unlike spin-offs that attempt to deepen or redeem overlooked characters, Minions succeeds by leaning fully into what made the characters popular in the first place: they are weird, loud, chaotic, and somehow impossible not to love. (Stream on Peacock)